Mark Pawsey , chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Vaping , said more work was needed to get the message across to smokers .
He was speaking at an event to celebrate the conclusion of the UKVIA ’ s fifth annual VApril awareness campaign .
The MP for Rugby and Bulkington said : “ Despite the progressive stance of our government , the numbers of people who are switching from tobacco to vaping has plateaued in recent years .
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VApril both raises awareness of the positive evidence about vaping and helps to encourage those smokers who may be thinking about vaping to give it a try .
“ We have a real problem where many smokers wrongly believe that vaping is just as harmful as smoking which is why VApril is so important .
“ It both raises awareness of the positive evidence about vaping and helps to encourage those smokers who may be thinking about vaping to give it a try and has the potential to help the government achieve its ambitions for a smokefree society .”
He said he was looking forward to seeing the findings of Javid Khan ’ s independent review into the UK ’ s 2030 smokefree plans , which he said promised to be an important and influential report .
UKVIA Director General John Dunne described VApril as the most successful to date saying that it generated ‘ record engagement ’ while promoting vaping as the most effective way to stop smoking .
He said VApril was also reaching record numbers of smokers across the globe and praised the UK ’ s stance on tobacco harm reduction .
Dunne said : “ It is consistently proven that vaping is the most effective tool here in the UK in enabling smokers to quit .
“ Regulators and industry and healthcare professionals must work together to create a joint approach to tobacco harm reduction as there are many millions of adult smokers who need our help in the UK .”
He said the UKVIA would continue to work with regulators , health care providers and others to get the message across that vaping was an effective and viable alternative to smoking .
Louise Ross , Interim Chair of the New Nicotine Alliance , said events like VApril encouraged smokers to take action ‘ for the sake of their health , their household budgets and their quality of life .’
She criticised those ‘ policymakers , lawmakers , scientists , researchers , journalists and philanthropists ’ across the world , who ‘ double down on their frantic and single-minded search to find theoretical harms and to spread misinformation , thereby keeping smokers smoking .”
Louise also called for consistent messaging from stop smoking support services and the wider health care profession , to ensure that confidence for smokers to switch from cigarettes was not undermined .
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